


White Rose Week 2017

by orphan_account



Category: RWBY
Genre: Comfort, Cute, Dates, Dating, Depression, Drabbles, Engagement, F/F, Family, Female Homosexuality, First Date, Fluff, Homosexuality, Hurt, Lesbian Relationship, Lesbianism, Lesbians, Love, Mental Illness, Modern AU, Protection, Reunion, Romance, Sapphic, Scars, Tsundere, White Rose - Freeform, White Rose Week, White Rose Week 2017, Whole Lotta Fluff, Yuri, gay relationship, oneshots, prompts, proposal, relationships, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-11-30 02:05:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11453709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A collection of short stories, prompts, drabbles and oneshots for the White Rose Week 2017 event ran on Tumblr. There are seven prompts, one for every day of the week. All of mine are a coherent run of the same universe almost, focusing on White Rose, Weiss Schnee and Ruby Rose, with occasional appearances from Yang and Blake but not many. Enjoy!





	1. Protection

"Weiss!" Ruby yelled as she saw her partner struggle with a host of three or so Grimm across the way of the field they were training and sparring in. They had come from nowhere, the whole army of the black, grey and horrid abominations, red-eyed and hungry for fresh huntress blood. They had seen Ruby right away, heard her so as soon as they had come by the little clearing in the Forever Fall forest. The rest and auburn of the leaves falling from the high canopy of luscious trees and into the clearing, coming on the calm breeze. 

Miss Schnee was currently surrounded by them, two Beowulfs and an Ursa as armed muscle and she was losing aura and energy faster than she could snap down glyphs to counter-attack with quick whips of Myrtenaster on her nimble wrist. She was elegant, a little choppy and messy from being kicked about and slashed but she was still on her feet and fighting strong, just as she had done against the Schnee Knight and every other adversary. But they were beginning to overwhelm her, as Ruby could see. 

She would not stand for it, she had to help Weiss. She had to... She loved Weiss, with all her little heart.

"Weiss! I'm coming, Weiss!" Ruby bellowed and before the heiress could clear her vicinity enough to respond desperately, Ruby had already slashed the two Beowulfs around her and was already on her way. She had brought down Crescent Rose with all her might, ripping it down the chests of the two ravenous Grimm and she was propelling herself at Mach speed.

With a precise snap of her semblance, Ruby Rose was a jet stream of red, crimson and colour of blood, whipping past Weiss and taking the Ursa with her, tearing through its beastly hide with another slash. Then she was running again, shooting off a round at the stunned Beowulf closest to Weiss and then leaping and bringing down the sharp end of her scythe into the head of the second. She was furious, blood-crazed and wishing all of the Grimm incoming would be smite, even if she had to do it herself. She would kill them all for trying to hurt Weiss. She would protect Weiss until her dying breath, she had to, she loved her so much, Ruby would not lose Weiss, not now to these petty and meddlesome Grimm, not to some old God with the powers of a Maiden or greater. Not even to Weiss's own father - Jacques Schnee and his malicious plans to lock her away forever like some fairytale princess. No, Ruby would save Weiss, she would ensure that no harm would ever befall the snow white heiress, the beautiful little icicle of white and blue. Ruby would always be there, with her silver eyes glowing a pristine white with anger and with determination - and Crescent Rose poised, primed and fully stocked on ammunition with a fire inside it that would tear through any Grimm's bone and ragged outer hide. 

Ruby Rose stared down the incoming wave of Grimm, with Crescent Rose gripped tightly in both her hands, ready to be fired down range. "Stay away from my girlfriend!" She roared as loud as they could and screamed at them. 

They all charged at the two girls. 

Ruby gave them no quarter. She fired Crescent Rose until the clip was empty, reloaded and then fired again, all of her ammunition down range, popping heads off of the skirting beasts and reducing them down to ash. Then she fired on the big ones - the Ursa and the following behemoths, again all of her ammunition, in their heads, shot after shot. "Reload me!" Ruby yelled at Weiss in between the snow white heiress setting up glyphs on the next target for her girlfriend. She was three ahead and so rapidly, as Ruby fired another last shot of a clip, Weiss took out another from her belt, flame-imbued with orange dust in every round. Miss Rose slammed the slab of red filled with bullets into her rifle and fired, again and again, every shot hitting whole and burning her target until they were snuffed out and fell dead. They all turned to ash, one by one by one. None of them was able to escape from Ruby's cone of death from Crescent Rose. 

They all ran to their deaths before they even got to Ruby, until she eventually did run out of ammunition and back up clips of it, by then there were only a few more left, two Ursa and one large colossal titan made of stone. It was a Wraith like Ruby had fought before with Nora and with Ren. She was fully prepared to deal with it on her own this time if she could manage to slash at the faceplate of the thing. 

"Ruby!" Weiss called to her girlfriend, breaking through the layer of angry concentration Ruby had on her face so that she was not listening to anything else. She had barely even paid attention to all the gunshots from Crescent Rose. Now Weiss was beckoning her. "Ruby! Ruby!" Weiss called again and again until the little-enraged team leader snapped out of it again. 

"Huh?" Ruby asked once she was back with Weiss and not in her arena in her head. The Grimm were still coming, but of course slower than the Beowulfs. They had a few seconds.

Weiss held Ruby's arms, looking scared in her eyes but also confident and a little wanton. She wanted it all to stop so she could hold Ruby in her arms and embrace her passionately. She wanted them to be safe again and all alone. Screw the sparring and the training, now all Weiss Schnee wanted was to hold Ruby closely. 

"Ruby! You take on the Elemental! I can handle the Ursa, okay?" Weiss made sure, as she whipped Myrtenaster back out from her belt and did best to calm her breathing and ready her semblance some more for an intense exchange. She was ready to fight again even with the bruises and scratches all over her body. They had torn right through her combat skirt and dress. She was even bleeding. 

"But Weiss! You're hurt! Your aura..." Ruby winced, not wanting any more harm to come to her beloved, but Weiss's glacial blue eyes were watering and the Grimm were coming closer still.  
"I'm okay enough to take on two Ursa, you focus on that big one okay?" Weiss pleaded, with her voice mellow and patronising, as if talking to a child. She cupped Ruby's cheeks and got ready to move. "I love you, Ruby Rose. You can do this." She spoke softly and kissed Ruby sweetly, a farewell peck before she ran off into battle against the last of this flash-horde of Grimm. She would take and defeat the remaining two hulking Ursa as Ruby would utterly smash down the Wraith possessing the rocks once again. 

Flashbacks of her time with Ren and with Nora came to Ruby as she calculated how she would take down the Wraith again single-handedly. It would be a feat worth bragging about to the ginger and the oriental ninja. Even Pyrrha would have to know about how Ruby took down a colossal Rock Wraith all on her own after decimating a whole horde of Grimm too. 

She ran, faster than she had run before, snapping into her semblance form right as the Grimm Wraith brought down the hammer of an arm it had, shaking the ground, but Ruby was not under it. She was gone, away like a flash of wind and she was under the behemoths feet. It tried to stomp but once again Ruby snapped into a flourish of red roses and darted up, slashing at the faint joint connecting the rocks of the beast's left arm. 

They all crumbled to the ground as Ruby hit the max height she could from the whip of her semblance. She twirled Crescent Rose around in the air again and snapped herself forward again like a possess lawn dart zipping all around her opponent. She disassembled the Wraith's second arm and as it tried to tread her underfoot once again, Ruby blasted herself into the air once more, running up the length of the Wraith's torso and to the face, where she did not even use her scythe.  
Ruby's Silver Eyes began to glow celestially and within one second, and her left fist had shone the same crisp white. She plunged her hand into the monster's mask and smashed it in her hand, destroying it in one motion, and like a tumbling foundation, the whole formation of rocks fell into a scattered scene of destruction all around the clearing. 

After that, Ruby fell to the ground, landing on her feet and her eyes subsided, and, turning around, she saw Weiss. 

The other girl in her tattered combat skirt had plunged her rapier, Myrtenaster, right into the heart of one Ursa, with the disembodied arm of her Summoned Knight plunging its own mighty blade into the other. She had killed both at the same time in the same motion and before she straightened out, both Grimm disappeared into smoke in the air. And finally, she breathed.  
Weiss stood up, sheathing Myrtenaster as Ruby folded Crescent Rose. The Knight's arm vanished and suddenly, it was back to just being Ruby and Weiss, and the silence of the field clearing in Forever Fall. As if nothing had happened at all. As it always was with battles against the forces of Grimm. There only lay marks on the floor, the odd patch of grass missing, the scars and blood all over Weiss and the spare and spent shells from the rifle bullets. All else was as it was before. And Ruby had protected Weiss enough to ensure she still lived. 

Ruby was already crying, as was Weiss, and they soon looked at the other and ran across the gap between them both. They ran into each other's arms, holding each other passionately and comfortingly. Ruby never wanted to let Weiss go. She wanted to hold her all the way back to New Beacon and hold her in her arms for the rest of forever. Hold in their bed, at the canteen, in class and in training. Ruby never wanted to not have Weiss very close to her. She could not bare the thought anymore after spending all the energy and strength she had, even tapping into her power of her Silver Eyes to protect her. But she had. Ruby had protected Weiss dearly. 

"Weiss..."

"Ruby..."

"I never wanna let you go, Weiss..."

"I never want you to let me go, Ruby... Not again..."

They stayed for what seemed like ages, for hours simply holding each other in the clearing, until they could hear the sound of running footsteps, the raising voices of Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna getting closer and closer, until the two women of black and yellow, hand in hand were running up to them. "What the Grimm happened here?" Blake asked, oblivious as to why Weiss's clothes had been completely tarnished and covered in blood. Ruby had done enough healing to close the heiress's wounds beforehand. 

Weiss and Ruby simply looked at Blake, and together, as they held each other, all they could do was laugh at her choice of words.

"Yeah what happened? And why are you covered in blood?" Yang developed, looking to Weiss and moving Ruby's cloak so they could all see the ends and tattered dress Weiss was now covered in, with all the ends stained with an iron red. She looked ghastly, and both Blake and Yang were surprised she was not complaining about it. Her time away from them must have done something about that. 

Weiss just held onto Ruby a little more, her arms around her littler girlfriend's shoulders as she pressed their chests and their cheeks together. Ruby could tell from the exhaustion in the white-haired girl's bones as they held each other that all Weiss wanted now was to go home and be with Ruby. She wanted a shower and to hold her protector in bed until the night ended and they could wake the next morning, forgetting the Grimm and the blood. 

But Weiss would not ever forget how much Ruby had done to protect her. Ruby truly was the heiress's protection.


	2. First Date

It was a fairly standard and boring formula for the night, with Weiss stuck behind the mirror coat of her vanity near the window of the dorm room - Yang behind her, pinning her hair back and readying it for curling, with Blake seated on the wooden shelf, painting the heiress's nails for the date looming over her. Her first date, and with Ruby no less.

Ruby herself was across the hall, in the JNPR dorm, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren seeing to her every inch to make sure she was as presentable as Weiss was. In Blake's mind, the redheads and Ren had the harder job. But Weiss was still not making it easy to ready and dress her. She was struggling and fretting every ten seconds, keeping her eyes shut and ready for Yang to see to them. At least the faunus only had to paint nails and then blend in the makeup on her face with the lighter tones of her neck and upper bust. 

"You're not binding tonight are you?" Yang asked, looking down the cleavage of the heiress's bust, the towel wrapped around her to conceal her naked body. It was hot enough that allowed Weiss to take a cold shower before sitting at the vanity. And Yang's question was one she honestly had not thought of. Usually, Weiss would bind her chest in a most expert way that made it still show some flesh at the top of whatever bustier she was wearing in conjunction with her combat skirt or dress. For formal occasions, she never usually wore a dress that showed the pale flesh of her upper chest, for fear that people - in this instance Ruby - would look and stare, and inevitably judge her. She bound for practicality, and mild comfort. She preferred having a smaller chest when in reality, the heiress was sporting breasts that were only slightly smaller than Yang's, their size and radius somewhere between the blonde and her feline significant other. But she was about to take Ruby out for the most sensual and lavish of dinners; Weiss had no idea if the binding was a smart choice here. "Weiss?" Yang asked again and the white-haired girl snapped from her inner mind palace where every worry was zooming around her at intense speeds. 

She murmured, looking at herself and her chest in the mirror of the vanity while Blake looked up at her too from painting her toes. Yang stopped the brushing and prodding of the girl's hair and looked at her eyes in the coated mirror piece too. She could tell she'd struck a nerve from the drooping descension in the curve of Weiss's beautiful lips. Her eyebrows were inclined upwards at the inner tips and her glacial eyes dulled with doubt and with self-loathing inside them. Perhaps there was more to her binding than just comfort and practicality. Yang's voice rang around her head again, and then the pitch changed, deepening a little. 

It did so until Weiss could recall her father's voice when she had told him she wanted to train as a huntress.

"Don't be ridiculous! A huntress? With a chest like that? With breasts as big as Winter's? How absurd - You'll be the Schnee heiress and that's all you'll ever be!"

She closed her eyes rather than look to the vanity, she despised how her chest was formed, how big they were when she wanted to be practical and effective at combat. She felt as if she couldn't with breasts that big. That was why she bound in the first place, deep down, to make them smaller and easier to fight with. It was stupid, she felt it was stupid but it was her way and she liked it so. 

Yang leant down, her eyes and face apologetic. "Hey, if you wanna bind... You know you can right? Ruby won't mind, she likes you for you, Ice Queen, not your tits," Yang ushered, a consoling hand on Weiss's shoulder, as Blake's joined, reaching up to hold the heiress's right hand.

Weiss smiled as she looked back up to Yang and placed her own free hand on the blonde's. "You're sure about that?" She asked, looking for more confirmation that her chest mattered not a single bit. And Yang's encouraging smile and wide lilac eyes were all the affirmation Weiss needed. She soon joined in the grinning and looked back into the reflective surface of the vanity mirror, stretching her fingers and looking determined. "Okay then, let's get beautiful for Ruby!" 

Hours later, the white-haired swordswoman was walking down the streets of the dimly lit town, with her rose red date on her arm, Ruby sporting a rather butch looking ensemble that made Weiss's icy heart melt and steam with affection and overwhelming attraction. While Weiss was a self-confirmed bisexual woman, Ruby was a hard-hitting lesbian, having never even been inclined to date a boy in her sixteen years of life. She had only ever wanted to date women, ever since she was born. Even as her former self, in the body she had been born in which was not really Ruby, she had considered herself a lesbian. And everyone had loved her anyway, for being gay and for having the courage to change her body to be the woman she had always been since birth. 

Little Ruby was even blushing herself, her cheeks matching the deep red of her tartan shirt that was tucked into her dark skinny jeans - she could hardly conceal how attractive she found Weiss walking beside her in her frilly and beautiful oceanic blue gown with a slightly whiter shawl around her back and over her arms. She looked so unlike how she acted and how she was during class and training. Weiss looked like an actress, on the red carpet, and Ruby looked like a made up mechanic in many ways her outfit was so butch. She was even wearing suspenders to keep her jeans up, the straps slipping around the outside curve of her breasts. Weiss looked at them and felt a tinge of embarrassment because she was still binding. 

But Ruby didn't care, she knew Weiss did and never asked why. If Weiss wanted to, then Ruby would respect it and love her anyway. 

"So where are we going?" Ruby asked, her hand clutching Weiss's wantonly and with much desire to keep doing so. She wanted them to be seen holding hands, to not be afraid to, like Yang and Blake were. She wanted them to be two Queens in a deck of cards - Hearts and Diamonds. Ruby's voice was awash with elated excitement and she developed a small spring in her step as Weiss mellowed around her. 

"Well, I was hoping I could treat you to a nice dinner, somewhere very esteemed and luxurious... If you'd want that..." Weiss strained as she tried to ask it. For as excited and happy as she was to be walking on the street, dating Ruby, she was extremely nervous. Nervous about her chest and about the date and her company. "Then I was thinking we could perhaps go for a walk at the park? The nice one on the edge of town, and perhaps after that... A late night movie?" Weiss continued, hoping Ruby would not whip out Crescent Rose from anywhere and tell her it was an awful idea.

Of course Ruby didn't. instead, she wrapped her arm around Weiss and gave her a subtle squeeze of affection. 

"Weiss! That's a great idea! Let's go eat! I can't wait to see what restaurant you've picked out," Ruby yelled, squeezing her date again and then walking with a slightly lighter spring in her step. It made Weiss smile like she was a little girl again playing with her non-alcoholic mother and her darling elder sister. 

She had a quick and definitive thought. 

"One second Ruby, please don't look," Weiss told her date, and out of respect, Ruby turned around and closed her eyes. They were by a lamp post at the corner of a building and there was no one around that could see while Weiss set her shawl and her purse on a bench and backed up to the corner of the building. She unzipped the side of the dress and slipped her hands inside awkwardly, ripping at the cloth wrap that was binding her breasts. She tore it out and let them rest comfortably inside the fabric of her beautiful dress. It felt a little better even, letting them free and to breathe. She hadn't let them in a while in a dress and for seconds it felt like bliss. And then she was back with Ruby, her shawl and purse in hand, but stuffing the cloth into a trash can. 

"Okay, all better now, let's go eat," Weiss proclaimed, formally starting the date with a newfound confidence about her body, her mind and herself. It felt really pleasant.

"Hey, Weiss? Thanks for being my first date," Ruby told the white-haired girl. 

"Hey, Ruby? Thank you for being mine..."


	3. Domestic

Ruby and Weiss were cuddling, perfectly and adorably on their sofa - their sofa - the sofa they had bought together when they were shopping for furniture for their brand new apartment. Single bedroom, ample living and kitchen space as well as a rather spacious bathroom. It was so cute, the whole place, and it was theirs. They had worked enough as huntresses to the point where they needed a living space, and so they bought one, in downtown Vale, with a perfect view of New Beacon off in the distance. 

Yang and Blake had moved too, right around Remnant and were currently living in Vacuo with their first child on the way. Yang was carrying the first of their planned three, but life was a little unpredictable, no one knew what else might whisk its way around the corner. So far Weiss and Ruby had made no plans for conception, but with aura melding methods, it was impossible to ensure it would not happen. Even Pyrrha and Nora had already popped out a daughter over in Mistral, and more and more friends were settling down and ready to start having babies. It was beautiful.

But Ruby and Weiss were, for the moment, very comfortable on their sofa, Weiss resting against the pillow pressed into the arm as Ruby lay on her, her little head snug and nestled into the gap between Weiss's soft breasts. She loved it there, loved snuggling up to Weiss's chest, loved holding her and laying, lazing on their quaint sofa. It was the dream, the life Ruby had wanted with Weiss after their first date. She wanted to hold her close and not let go, like the time she had done everything she could to protect the heiress from the flash-horde of the Grimm. Ruby would do anything to be close to Weiss, and she had. And now they were comfortable and living together - not engaged or married yet, but neither of them doubted that it would be much longer before she got the idea to buy a ring and propose. 

"What do ya wanna watch babe?" Ruby asked Weiss, taking the television remote from the side of the sofa cushions and flicking on the box. They never usually strayed from the usual boring chatter, occasionally they would rent a movie, but Weiss was irked and had no idea what she wanted. 

She yawned and held her Ruby closer, kissing the top of her head. "You choose Ruby, I'm a little tired from work," the white-haired woman muttered as she licked the inside of her mouth to rid it of its dryness. 

Weiss had taken over the Schnee Dust Company and was slowly reinventing it from the ground up, now that her time as a huntress had come to a close and both Jacques and Whitley were both dead and buried. Winter could not take over, she had no vision for how to both run the firm and also work on the image to make it a much more hallowed name. In the last few days of Jacques run as CEO he had managed to destroy what was left of public relations and how the public perceived him and the company. Weiss was the one with the trusted name and the respected term of service to Atlas, to Vale and to Mistral. She was the one who needed to run it, while Winter Schnee could turn her attention to overhauling the Atlesian Military and making sure all borders were protected as the chaos and evil of Salem subsided in the remaining shadow of the Grimm. And Weiss was doing a fantastic job. The stock of the company was making a slow increase and while it had been cut down to size with the rise of more trusted splinter companies, she was doing her best to return her grandfather's policies and way of running things to the corrupted and twisted corporation. But it meant for a very tired Weiss as the best of times. 

She shimmied under Ruby and held her further up, closer to her face so that she could kiss the current teacher of Grimm History and Lore at New Beacon. While Miss Goodwitch stood as headmistress now, Ruby had joined the teaching staff and was by far the most well respected and loved member of staff around. Glynda was certainly grooming her to take over after she retired, and then there would be two old Beacon students heading the academies around Remnant. Pyrrha had already ascended to lead Haven Academy after the war, and she was a perfect pick for the role, being from the area herself. Nora was not working at that moment, she was too happy to be with her baby at all times. 

"Why don't we watch Wipeout? You love Wipeout, Weiss," Ruby chimed, flicking through the channels until she found it, turning the volume way down so that it wouldn't disarm either of them. Weiss pulled a face. She did not want to watch Wipeout. 

Ruby rolled her eyes and flicked off the screen. "Okay, you wanna sleep, I get it, but what about meeeeee?" Ruby dazed, rolling over and cuddling her glacial girlfriend closely again, slipping hands under her back and nuzzling Weiss's chest again. Ruby was restless and getting bored, which was a bad combination even in her early twenties. She'd always been the same and would always be so. 

Weiss gave a yawn and a stretch of her balled fists and arms. She held Ruby closer, burying her face between her own breasts as she wanted to submerge to sleep, and then an idea struck Weiss. "Why don't you bake? You love baking and aren't Penny and Emerald coming around later?" She asked, eyes shut and voice strained with mumbles of the tired woman wanting an hour under the film of sand. 

Her girlfriend looked up and into the kitchen area, at the stove and the bread bin and cupboards in a righteous epiphany of baked goods. Ruby could make brownies, or sugar cookies, or molten chocolate biscuit balls. She could make anything if she had an hour and enough time and ingredients. 

"Do we have stuff in?" Ruby asked, not able to recall the last time they had gone shopping together. Roughly the apartment should have been stocked, Ruby had picked up a few things in the week but she did not remember if Weiss had stocked the place up in the time she had here away from the boardroom. 

"Should be enough for whatever you want darling, if not you can always run to the store. Can I just head to the bedroom for an hour? My eyes are killing me, love," Weiss pained as she rubbed the sockets in her skull. Ruby leant over her and placed her soft lips to Weiss's forehead, kissing her sweetly while brushing a clumped strand of her black-red hair out of the war from falling. 

She let out a quaint and petite squeak and sigh as she gave Weiss one last cuddle and smooch on her nose. "Get some rest babe, I'll have the kitchen smelling like a bakery before you wake up 'kay?" Ruby checked, clambering to her feet, pulling the hem of her short shorts down a bit so they didn't ride up. She sorted the sleeves of her pyjama top too, pulling them down so it did not become a vest. And as she did so, Weiss soon meandered like a zombie to the bedroom, collapsing on the bed and struggling under the covers to sleep. 

The kitchen was simmering and cooking away within moments - Ruby was baking a fresh batch of brownies with some little chunks of mint chocolate inside, as well as her famous chocolate orange chip cookies and even some smalls scones frosted with a mild caramel icing. It was a workshop, a little wonderland of sugary bliss, chocolate and cocoa in the air blending with aromas of orange and mint and caramelising sugar. Five or so pots were boiling and melting away on the top of the stove, with dough being rolled out like clockwork, huge loaves of the stuff, all kneaded under palm and fist as Ruby silently and happily crafted her goods, worked her craft and fell into a haze of pure euphoria; the smell of several aphrodisiac all around the air. The flour was getting in her hair already and all over her bare legs - the apron did not much by means of keeping her clothes clean, the white patches were everywhere but she was so silently happy and at peace. Batches of cookies began spilling from the oven, with brownies too, trays and trays of them. Ruby even rolled a few balls with the excess dough, baked them halfway and then dipped then in the excess melted chocolate to craft some gorgeous looked echolocate biscuit balls on cocktail sticks. It was her dream, what Ruby loved the most after Weiss. 

Before Ruby had noticed how long she'd even been baking, the hour had past and she could feel the soft and slender arms of Weiss Schnee wrap around her waist as the white-haired woman pressed her bare chest against Ruby's back. 

She had finished her nap. 

Now Weiss was in the kitchen with Ruby, inspecting the goods and cuddling her darling girlfriend once again, against the countertop, planting beautiful little kisses into the crook of Ruby's neck. 

Weiss took in a waft of the blended aromas of all the treats simmering all over the kitchen and hummed a satisfied tune as she squeezed her little baker around her hips. "Smells good baby, smells really good."

"Why don't you taste my genius?" Ruby popped and handed her girlfriend one of the cookies from the first batch.

Weiss took a bite and moaned behind closed lips as she took in the mellow and melting taste of only the most sublime of baking chocolate. Ruby had bought about fifteen bars of it from the local bakery who she was very well connected and friendly too. He always gave her discount on all purchases in exchange for Ruby donating some of what she made to him. In the end, he'd always pass her on some of the profits anyway, and he'd always tell of how the customers were wishing she'd open her own bakery or join as a part of his. She'd always wanted to. But Weiss was melting away with the taste of the cookie, loving the added aftertaste of the sweet and succulent orange. 

It was perfect. 

"Ruby, darling. You should open your own bakery, you really should this is gorgeous, can I try the brownie?" Weiss asked, her mouth still full with the bite of the cookie. Ruby hummed in approvement and handed her a small cube of the chocolate mint brownie mix. Weiss chomped it down slowly, savouring the texture and unfathomable taste. It was even more overwhelmingly sublime than the cookie. "Oh gods, Ruby you have to sell this, you have to make more."

"But we don't have the money to start a business Weiss, do we?" Ruby asked, squeaking and nervous as she carried on her baking, while Weiss held her closely from behind and rested her head on the woman's shoulders. 

Weiss gave it a thought for just a moment and came up with the solution. 

"I'll sell the company, and I'll fund the bakery... For you."

Ruby was shellshocked, moonstruck and otherwise blown away. She dropped her wooden spoon and flinched, balling her fingers into two small rocks of fists before she spun on her heels as Weiss held her and held her girlfriend closely, burying her face in the crook of Weiss's collarbone. "I can't let you do that!" Ruby squirmed, blubbering already while her arms wrapped Weiss up in a vice grip. She was struggling badly as Ruby held her, trying to turn all the hobs off and not burn the chocolate pots.

"Ruby! I..." Weiss shrieked, and then sighed as she got the oven over control. Then she calmed down and just held her lover. "Let's settle it later babe--"

"I love you, Weiss!" Ruby cried, shuddering a little in her companion's embrace. 

Weiss sighed again and smiled, hugging Ruby closer still as she kissed her forehead with the scents of chocolate and baking dough and flour swirling all around them. "I love you too... Dolt."


	4. Scars

Weiss was driving, the window down and the breeze blowing her tail of white hair out of the window as she leant on her hand, propping her up against the sill of the car window and door. Her hand was barely touching the steering wheel as she was driving home from the office - the smaller office of the whittled down Schnee Dust Company her father had helped drive into the ground with Whitley's help. 

And now she was left to pick up the pieces and build her grandfather's dream back up, to make it better and make it what he would have wanted before Jacques had married his way into the Schnee dynasty. He had done it, only married her mother Willow to take command of the sinking ship and save it from the patronage and philanthropy of Weiss's grandfather. Jacques had turned the company into something ugly and evil, discriminatory, corrupt and corporate. 

But now Weiss was CEO, albeit of a much smaller company. Divisions had had to be sold off to up and coming firms for the company to survive and reformat. All for it to live past Jacques.  
It was playing on her mind so much, how much her father had done to ruin everything the company had stood for, and now how much she was having to do to ensure its survival.

She didn't even have the radio on, it was slow drive and a sad one too, Weiss almost let herself be surrounded by the negative emotions and thoughts about all that had happened. She thought back to Beacon, Old Beacon and the Battle of Vale - how it had all be taken down and ruled by Grimm for a time before Taiyang and his band of merry men; Oobleck, Port, Qrow, a lot of the other fathers and mothers. Even Glynda Goodwitch and some of the other teachers like Professor Penelope Peach. Thanks to them and only them, all of the Grimm had been pushed back while Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang were foiling the White Fang and destroying Salem's operation, saving the world. 

And now it was just... Life as normal. Weiss was living and settling down with Ruby, they were together, happy, she had the company, her father and brother were dead and Winter was taking care of their mother. Yet it all still hurt, and there were still more scars than both Weiss and Ruby could count. 

Yes, Pyrrha was alive again, and yes, Penny was walking around in a new rig, as if nothing had happened during the Battle of Vale. But it was all still there, hidden under the surface of all the girls putting on brave faces day after day. Weiss felt the pain still whittling away at her under her skin, deep crevices of strife deep in the marrow of her bones. 

She was only just getting into her twenties and yet she felt like she was double her own age, approaching the mid-life crisis.

Her scroll rang, and Yang's avatar came up as the caller. As safely as she could with the wireless earpiece, Weiss answered the call. "Yang? What's up? What can I do for you?" Weiss asked, first deflated, but then trying to sound as polite as she could to draw suspicion away from how she was feeling - how defeated she was really feeling. 

Yang noticed right away through the call. "Damn you too huh? Too much to deal with today?" Yang asked, in a very similar tone with nothing of her usual giddiness about her. She sounded alone, either she was or Blake was simply sleeping on her again. The faunus was doing a whole lot more of that lately, while the two women lived it up on Patch, close to Tai as he grew older. 

Weiss let out another deflated sigh, like a pathetic balloon releasing the last trickle of air. "I've been low on spoons all week Yang, I think Ruby's actually giving up." The white-haired businesswoman confessed, rubbing her hand over her temple and then her whole forehead, trying to iron out some of the stress-induced wrinkles. 

"What d'you mean? She's giving up what?" Yang asked, her tone suddenly serious and full of concern. 

"I don't know, but it's half term and she's just slumped on the sofa almost all day. She's not been baking, she rarely wants to go anywhere and she's sad a lot more. On top of that, the nightmares have started again, she's screaming Pyrrha and Penny's names almost every night... Yours too..."

Yang let out her own sigh, and from the inflexions of it, Weiss could hear that tears were forming in the blonde's eyes, and she was about to cry. There was silence for almost a whole minute, as Weiss navigated through the rush hour traffic and into downtown, the more developed and expanded part of New Vale. "Yang?" She asked at the scroll, seeing if her friend was still on the other end. 

"Yeah, I'm still here. Look, Weiss, do you need me and Blake to take a trip? We don't mind... If you two need us, just for company or for someone to... You've been more down yourself lately, I've noticed... The spoons..." Yang alluded, how Weiss was out of energy almost every day and how she never did anything apart from looking after Ruby and then the company. How Weiss never talked about what happened back then, she only made sure everyone else did, to heal and to be better, closer friends and partners.

Weiss grew silent this time, not speaking as tears leaked from her eyes and she wiped them away on the sleeve of her suit. "I..." She began to speak but stopped herself. 

"It's okay Weiss... We don't mind really... We just want to come and make sure you're both okay... We wanna help you both like you always help us." Yang cooed over the phone, her tears subsiding and her consoling, blissful tone coming through, making Weiss really wish she was in the car so she could cuddle the damn blonde. 

As Weiss cried, she hit a traffic jam, a hold up pretty close to the parking complex near her apartment, and she slammed her head into the steering wheel, crumbling before Yang on the call. "Yeah, could you both come over for a while? I think we all need to be together, and I think Ruby needs her big sister... And I think I need her too..." Weiss sobbed, taking her glasses off and wiping her eyes with the lapel of her jacket. She didn't care she was breaking down in her car right outside the apartment. 

Yang didn't say anything for a while, but then she sighed and spoke softly. "We'll catch a flight on an airship tonight 'kay? We'll be there by this time tomorrow, we've got you Ice Queen..." She told Weiss and hung up, leaving Weiss as the jam lifted and she pulled into the parking garage, still sniffling and crying a little. 

She cried all the way from the car to the apartment and opened the door with her eyes still glassy from the intense and horribly sad conversation. It made her feel so dreadful, she could only imagine how she'd be so ill-equipped to cheer up her girlfriend laying in front of the television.

However, when Weiss opened the front door she saw Ruby sitting upright, with a massive blanket wrapped around her, covering her entire body aside from her little head. She was licking a spoon that had, from what Weiss could deduce, rum raisin ice cream on it and she was watching a comedy movie on the television. Her hair was a little messy from how she'd been tossing and turning in her sleep and she was still in two-day old pyjamas, having not bathed at all. 

"What's all this?" Weiss asked, upon further inspection of the floor. There were candy bar wrappers and two more tubs of the dregs of ice cream around the sofa they had bought together. Two bottles of flavoured water were empty too under the sofa, with a half-full one on the side table. 

Innocent looking Ruby gawked up at her girlfriend and opened her little mouth for the spoon to fall back into the tub on her lap. 

"You were gone and I got sad again after a dream so I needed my Weisscream... All we had was rum raisin so it had to do," Ruby peeped, not blinking but her silver eyes looking like they had been crying too and were so adorable. "I wanted mint, like your toothpaste but we didn't have any..."

Weiss's eyes welled up again as she chuckled to herself with a tickled laughter. Ruby was cute enough to make her weep. 

"Would you wanna take a ride to the grocery store and get some mint?" She asked as if talking to a child. 

Ruby nodded enthusiastically with a petite little smile across her jaw. 

"Come on then baby, get dressed and we'll get some ice cream," Weiss told her with a matching smile. 

"Can we get bacon too?" Ruby asked pretty randomly. 

"Of course we can baby. Of course, we can..."


	5. Proposal/Wedding

"Okay ladies, what are we cooking for dinner tonight?" Yang relayed from the kitchen as herself and Blake prepared the stove for ripe meal preparation, as well as pulling cutting boards from the cupboards. They were like a finely-oiled machine since they had arrived to help the depressed couple of white and red. 

Weiss and Ruby, incidentally, were watching television again, lying over each other and cuddling the other blissfully, almost dozing off into a cocoon of beautiful slumber. The smaller girl was burying her head deep into Weiss's bosom, holding her so dearly as the pair of them recharged their spoons. Weiss tugged on the blanket and pulled it over their heads as she tipped hers down and kissed Ruby's head sweetly. She reacted by bringing her lips up and guiding her Ice Queen's chin down so their lips met and they kissed again a little more, tiny pecks that began to develop into a more open and elongated smooching session under the blankets. 

"Weiss! Ruby! What are we cooking for you? Come on ladies!" Yang called out again like the house mother. Yet still, the ladies on the sofa gave no answer from in between the moments where their lips were meeting and enveloping. "Come on girls! You have to eat!" The blonde yelled again, getting closer to the girls on the sofa. 

Before Weiss or Ruby could prepare themselves for the sudden burst of blinding light from the sun through the window, Yang tossed the blanket off of them, and they both were seemingly blinded. 

"Come on! Up you lazy gays, time for dinner!" The dragon ordered them, breaking them up from each other's kisses. "Weiss, kitchen please, show us where everything is so me and Blakey can make you useless queers some Vacuoan grub," she continued, pulling the blanket away and taking it with her so the two younger girls could not go back to cuddling and kissing one another.  
Weiss Schnee let out a groan and Ruby held her closely, tugging at her as the youngest woman was dressed in just her long sailor shirt and black bottom panties. She hadn't bothered to wear any pants since Summer began. There was no need and it was too hot for her. 

It was an ensemble that little Ruby had enjoyed since she had seen her favourite character wear it in her favourite anime. All she needed was the magic, the fox ears and cute little tail as well as the fully automatic machine gun and she could cosplay for ValeCon.

Now that life was all domestic and adult, Ruby had attained her kicks where she could - most of them being the multiple conventions around Remnant. 

She had won the third prize at AtCon for her cosplay of Solid Snake one year. 

Still, Weiss left the cosiness and dual soliloquy of the sofa and soft blanket and her elongated girlfriend to struggle her way to the kitchen, still tired and pulling a frying pan from the bottom drawer. "Where's meat?" Weiss grumbled, annoyed that Yang had torn her away from her truly beloved to slave away in a festering and boring kitchen. She couldn't even cook that well, not really, not without her May Zedong's Famous Cookery Book beside her. May had handed her a free copy for the holidays. 

Blake almost screamed. She jumped upon seeing Weiss behind her, her feline ears standing on their ends and a shriek coming from her lungs like a raving cat too. She groaned after that and walked to her, taking the pan from her hand and placing her free one on Weiss's other shoulder, calming her a little with her touch. 

"No, no, no, you're not cooking. I've tasted your pancakes, Weiss... Pancakes. I've got this. Yang just wanted to know what I actually have to work with." Blake cleared up, resting the frying pan on the counter and getting a little close to Weiss as if to smell her as she did with some people. By her reaction, it seemed Weiss did not smell right, or something about her scent made Blake almost want to hurl. Something was off with her and Blake could definitely smell it. 

Yang soon trotted into the kitchen like a forward march and all three of them could hear Ruby turning the television up once she'd found the channel she was looking for - anime again. None of them knew which but Weiss could remember it from some time ago. 

The blonde caught her breath in her mouth, making a scoffing noise before silencing herself. "Uh, Blake? Why is she in here?!" Yang cried, almost pulling at her yellow curls.

"Well, it's her kitchen and she thought she was cooking?" Black countered with a gruff spat, twirling so she was leaning on the counter. "But there's something else here." She then told Yang, gesturing for her to close the door with a wag of her chin. 

The dragon complied, kicking it closed with the heel of her bare foot. All guests were barefoot in the house of Rose and Schnee, it was a rule since it was so zen, or tried to be. After Yang closed the door, Weiss eased up, and Blake's piercing, glow-in-the-dark eyes turned to her. 

"You're nervous, hiding a secret from Ruby and from us right? You stink of it, Weiss." The feline faunus told her, equally as breaching at her eyes did look at her. Her eyes were shaking and all of the feline's outline was vibrating, set off by Weiss's holding back. She couldn't deal with it as if she were positive and Weiss were negative. 

"Weiss!" She snapped after two seconds of the CEO doing nothing but breathing.

Yang got between them both, one hand on the outside of her Blakey's thigh and the other on the white-haired girl's shoulder. It was frail and bony under the baggy blouse that was covering her. "Weissu? What is it?" Yang asked, a lot more patient and understanding than her faunus other half. 

Weiss breathed, huffed even at both of them and snatched out a small band from her breast pocket - small, ring finger sized and adorned with scattered diamonds on the top. Only small, nothing massive and flamboyant, Weiss knew that Ruby would hate that. But it was personal, small in size and rather light in weight and certainly more than intimate. Either it was something Weiss had no idea if Ruby would or would not like, or it was exactly what the little headmistress wanted and her other half knew her perfectly. Yang and Blake both suspected it was the latter of the two when they saw the shy and retreating CEO whip out the ring and slam it onto the counter. 

Suddenly all became clear to the faunus, and her tingling frame mellowed out and she wrapped her arms around her own companion. 

"You can guess what that's for..." Weiss mumbled at both of them as she tried to hide her mouth and the rest of her face in the creased fabric of her collar. 

"I'll say! You must have set the firm back a couple months with that thing!" Yang cried a little loudly all around the cooking area. 

Weiss and Blake were both very quick to reach over and cover her mouth with hurried hands, both also hushing her down so Ruby couldn't hear them spatting over the ring. Luckily the television was turned too high up and the anime was seeping into conflict, there was no way Ruby could hear a thing from the kitchen. And after seconds passed, Weiss relaxed again and took her hand back. 

"I want to propose to Ruby but I don't know how or when... I've had this thing for three weeks already," Weiss stammered, embarrassed again about her timing and her pride, and of course her uselessness in delivering the ring to Ruby's finger. Her eyes turned dark and introverted from their usually sparkling glacier blue. This was obviously one of the things that were adding to the depression of the CEO, mixed with that of her little partner. 

Yet as Yang and Blake both fought of it, they could tell that the ring might be the thing to break the depressive bout, if only for a small amount of time. 

Yang grabbed Weiss's shoulders and turned her around to face her, so their eyes met and a spark flew between their heads. The blonde was smiling and at that look in her eyes, Weiss whimpered because she knew what the dragon was going to task her with. It was embarrassing and Weiss knew she couldn't do it, but Yang told her anyway.  
"Ask her, right now, Weissu." 

"No..." Weiss whimpered again as if she was in a mild pain below. She felt sick suddenly at the thought of asking Ruby to marry her, but Yang wouldn't let her go. 

"Yes, go ask her right now, go on, there's nothing stopping you Weissu, she needs you and she loves you. Ask her!" Yang implored her, her hands gripped the bony, blouse-covered shoulders a little more. She felt very strongly about this, as her lilac eyes were reddening with her passion. "Ask her right now Weiss!" She cried and the door opened almost reflectively after the blonde barked. 

It was little Ruby, looking at the floor and keeping her frame relatively close together. As if she was shy or she was sad or nervous for something. 

"What's going on? Where's dinner?" Little Ruby peeped, still looking down at her wiggly toes in her thigh high socks. She yawned too, indicating that she was either tired or she was just getting up and calibrating her mind for interaction and activities. She looked so cute to Weiss in her mock up cosplay loungewear. She needed those ears and the tail, Ruby would make the cutest rendition of Yoshika Miyafuji. 

All three girls stopped everything and flabbergasted until their hands were at their sides. Weiss quickly swiped her hand across the counter and snapped up the ring to hold it in her fist so Ruby didn't see anything sparkling. They were all suddenly racing not to give anything away and Yang coughed. 

"We're still deciding what to cook really, Blake?" 

"Yeah, we're having trouble finding good meats here so we were debating whether or not me and Yang should quickly go to the store and get some. How does Duck sound? Or Chicken with a Vacuoan spice glaze?" Blake tried to whip up from the annuls of her culinary mind. Her recipes were limited but her photographic memory helped up suggest some at the last minute. 

Ruby was nodding happily to the sound of the Chicken, she had never tried Vacuoan spices really before when she was there on a mission she ate simply and plainly. "What about with some Ramen too? That would be great!" The little headmistress added with a chipper smile.

Blake beamed. "Yeah, that sounds awesome. Do you two have enough bowels?" 

"Yes we do, we cater for about eleven people with Ruby's eyes in the department store," Weiss told. 

"Hey I like the patterns," Ruby defended herself, before walking to Weiss and kissing her cheek as she wrapped her arms around her taller white-haired girlfriend. "Hey Weiss, what's in your hand?" Ruby asked feeling a balled fist as she tried to hold it. 

Weiss's heart stopped, as did Yang's and Blake's. The yellow and black coloured girlfriends both fell over each other and the CEO's eyes snapped and twitched. She was found out, completely, and there was no way out of it. 

It was now or never. 

Weiss quickly dropped to her knees, not daring to look at Ruby as she pulled out the ring from her balled fists, offering it to the black-reddish haired girl. 

"Ruby Rose... I bought this ring because I love you and I know I'm an awkward mess of emotions and pride but I cherish you above all over things in this world and I would love to ask you if you would do me the greatest of honours and marry me..." Weiss said all at once, quickly and with an increased vigour because she was so nervous now and humiliated. She didn't know what else to say and she seemed to talk for ages.

Her partner took a moment to look at the ring and try to make out what Weiss even asked. She had said it so fast, Ruby had heard barely anything about it. She cocked her head and coughed a little bout. "Weiss... Are you asking me... to..."

Weiss's head whipped up so fast she nearly got whiplash and looked Ruby dead in the eyes, reaching for her hand while still offering her the ring. She was suddenly deadly serious, and also in her own mind, like a raging and serious anime character. 

"Marry me Ruby, please marry me, I love you and I want to be with you for as long as possible." Weiss stammered, trying not to shake more than she already was. "Ruby Rose... Will you marry me?" 

Ruby was already crying, trying to close her eyes while she took the ring with Weiss's hand and slid it over her finger. "Oh Weiss... Of course, I will! I thought you'd never ask! But there's just one thing..."

Weiss's heart stopped again and she nearly coughed it up. "What is it, Ruby?"

The crying headmistress of New Beacon pulled out her own silver band with diamonds scattered on top, almost the same ring as she was now wearing. "Will you marry me too?"

Yang and Blake nearly died it was all so insane, but Weiss, of course, said yes and before they knew it, the feline was breaking out the bottles of champagne and calling over all the friends they had in the immediate vicinity - mainly Cinder, Emerald, Glynda, Roma, Neo, Arslan, Reese, and all the rest. 

It was now an engagement party dinner.


	6. Modern AU

They were both alone, only the secluded kind of alone, and yet in the middle of a party, with teenagers and other sodomised youths spread out strangely over the surface area of the house. It wasn't anyone's house whom they knew, at least not specifically. In fact, neither of them knew many people that were even in attendance. At least no one in the close proximity.

Yang and Blake had gone home, and it was only through them that both girls remote knew each other. They'd only been introduced to each other that night and both felt incredibly awkward - hence why they were on opposite sides of the swamped kitchen. With the incredible pile of drunk and raving bodies between them and swarming the rooms like fruit flies to a plate of uneaten food weeks old, it was no wonder why Ruby felt incredibly uncomfortable with the stupid red cup in her hand. And with the girls beginning to undress for all the prestigious boys, it was no wonder why Weiss was gripping hers with an incubated anger that could split the wallpaper like paint thinner.

To the prissy white-haired honour student it was disgusting and unbelievable heterosexual, which to her was equally as disgusting. And to the smaller and younger girl-genius in the arts of music and sound across the room, back against the wall and eyes looking like they could cry because of the noise and bodies, it was just wrong and hideous. She couldn't even stand to look at it and wished she'd just taken a cab back to her digs when Yang and Blake had said they were leaving. 

But she was a little eager to stay with Weiss, and yet the beautiful girl had been dragged away by one of the football jerks and now she was stapled to the sofa as the idiots were chanting for a Ouija Board. The music was annoying the white-haired girl and her arms were getting itchy next to the hair-covered meat sticks of the jocks sandwiching her between themselves because she looked gorgeous. 

Weiss knew she was gorgeous, enough women (whose opinions she actually and actively cared for) told her so when she was wining and dining them in her spare time. 

She'd checked over her shoulder seven times in the past five minutes to see if Ruby was still hanging on the wall like a painting - a very uncomfortable and suffocated painting. Of course, she was, in her bright red hoodie with the black scythe over it and the torn skinny jeans. She may have well have been wearing a sign over her head that said 'dyke'. Weiss could almost smell the queer on her. 

There suddenly drifted two drunken males next to Ruby, looking at one of the hanging photographs next to her. "Dude, check this lady out!" One of them shouted. 

"Dude, she's like a total MILF!" His friend cried, and Ruby could not take the loud stifling and suffocation anymore. She darted for the door, dropping her beer on the way and pulling her hood over her head, fiddling with something in her hand, as Weiss could see s she walked.   
The honour-roll student took that as a cue if ever to give chase. 

"Milf! Milf! Milf!" The lads were still shouting at the picture as she shoved passed them, barging them both out of the way better than a quarterback.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted as she made her way outside, and the red girl turned around. What was in her hand was something rubbery or plastic, malleable, and she was twisting, scrunching and bending it in her hand. Some kind of stimulation toy. 

And that was when it hit Weiss.

Ruby was autistic, and she was freaking out a little. How could Weiss have been so oblivious? Quickly she closed the gap and reached to hold the girl's hand a little, but retracted when she thought it might be counter-productive. 

"Hey, Ruby, wanna get out of her? How about we get a cab to my place? What'd'ya say?"

The look of shock and conflict inside Ruby's face and eyes made the heiress wince a little, guilty that she'd been sat on that sofa for so long. She could see the green loop of plastic in her hand being stretched and bent and fiddled with at an increased pace. It was an act of desperation, and Weiss had one up her sleeve that was equally as desperate. Weiss winced and held her breath a little, tossing her red cup half empty of beer across the lawn as the other students tarnished it. 

Weiss, shaking almost to salvage this meeting with the shy and timid, downright freakish autistic girl, reached out with her hand again, stroking Ruby's fingers with her own. "Say, what's that in your hand Rube Cube? It looks pretty neat." Weiss asked, trying to smile and not seem like a total idiot or misunderstanding cave troll. 

It took a few beats, but Ruby actually began to chuckle, and then that developed into a giggle, and a light-hearted laugh. She was smiling and her shakes began to subside a little, although she did keep squishing and bending her plastic toy, folding it over like dough or soft pastry. 

She kept laughing for a couple of seconds, and then after that, she reached for Weiss's hand, covering her mouth with the plastic-full hand and her red hoodie sleeve. "Can I... Can I h-hold your hand?" The small Ruby asked the taller Weiss quiveringly. 

"What? You?" Weiss was flustered. She looked down to see the small and thin digits of Ruby's fingers reached out a little and gripping or twiddling for contact in the cold air as she covered her mouth again with her sleeve. Weiss practically melted before the girl in red and reached out with her hand. 

Suddenly, both were holding the other's hand, and both were blushing. Ruby chewed on her plastic toy and giggled again. 

"Rube Cube. I like that name, and I call it a Scrunchy, but it's probably not what it's called." Ruby began to talk, a little meekly at first but then she got a little louder towards the end, becoming more and more comfortable with the beautiful and warm Weiss. Ruby pulled out another 'Squishy' as she called them. This one was a mellow and deep ocean blue as opposed to her current lime green. She fiddled with two of them in her one free hand and then offered a third one, a yellow to Weiss. "Wanna give one a try? I have a few of them from Yang, she gets me a few every month because I usually lose them or bend them to the point where they're too loose," Rube Cube explained. 

Weiss chuckled to herself and took the yellow one. They began to walk down the street now, hand in hand and with Ruby pulling her hood over her head. No longer did she feel the need to speak with her sleeve over her mouth out of weak embarrassment. The heiress was folding and bending the yellow loop of rubbery plastic in her hand and actually enjoying it, giggling out of the stimulation the toy was granting her. Ruby was tugging at it with her teeth as they left the circle of the party and transitioned into the isolation of the suburbs. 

"Have you considered a fidget cube? Or a stress ball? My sister has a stress-relief peach for when her workload gets too much for her and she needs to spend a few minutes to unwind." Weiss mentioned as they both settled that Ruby was going to at least walk the white-haired girl home. Now that her little panic was subsiding, she was ready to be chivalrous. 

Ruby, however, pulled a face at the mention of the ball. "Stress balls are too big usually and when I hold them, people stare. With the squishies, it's a little easier to bend 'em and squeeze 'em without anyone noticing and poking fun just because I'm... Ya know I do things differently." Ruby said in a rush, trying not to even comment on her condition. 

"Do things differently?" Weiss asked, not seriously, just mulling the words over in her head. She'd never met someone going out of their way to not say their condition aloud as if it was a swear word. It sounded strange to her. 

Ruby shifted as she stepped, knocking her heels with the front of her shins. "Ya know, I do things in a Rube Cube kinda way where you do things in a Weiss way, or Yang does things in a Yang way, or Blake in a Blake way," the smaller autistic girl explained, actually making more sense than a lot of professionals to Weiss. 

The way Rube Cube explained it, it sounded more coherent and more to the truth than any academic or expert on the matter. It made Weiss both proud to be talking with this girl, and mad at the establishment she would have most likely gone through. She had a better handle on her own state of mind and way of acting and thinking than anyone could tell her, that much was clear. And it was a wonder to listen to. 

"Hey, Rube Cube?" Weiss asked, giving the small girl a mild squeeze. 

"Yeah Weissy-Icy?" Ruby asked in retort as they walked down the street, the dead of night creeping in a little bit. 

"I think being with you is already much better than being stuffed in that house full of hetero fools. I'm sorry I left you alone when they sandwiched me on the couch," Weiss muttered, her head looking down. 

Ruby nudged her as she chewed at her toys. "Ha! Gay! I knew you were!"


	7. Reunion

"Flight five-six-three, delayed from Atlas Heart Airport, is now arriving. Flight seven-niner to Mistral Central Airport, leaving on time." The Airport Attendant proclaimed over the loudspeaker to the entire mezzanine, and Ruby was the giddiest she had ever been. The 'squishy' in her hand was almost folded into the size of an apple seed, and she was struggling to contain her excitement. 

Weiss was coming back, and she was going to be so surprised to see the Rube Cube waiting for her at the arrivals gate, with a massive banner behind her, held up by Yang and Blake. The black and white girlfriends had reassured the autistic bundle of joy and explosive happiness they'd help her arrange everything for when Weiss was landing. 

There'd been a layover and delays at both airports Weiss had been stranded in and that had had repercussions on Rube Cube and her sisters (Blake was essentially her sister at this point). They'd ended up waiting in the airport for Weiss's flight to arrive for about sixteen hours, and by now Rube Cube could not hold in how excited she was to see her darling friend once again. She kept folding and fidgeting with her current magenta 'squishy' and it was becoming so loose in her hand. 

"Yaaaaang! Squishy's loose!" She cried for the blonde and Yang smiled at her, dropping the banner down a little. 

"Swap sis! I'll have to look in my bag." Yang told her younger sister, gesturing for her to take that pole of the massive banner. "Does anyone need anything to eat or drink? I can make a run to one of the stores before Weiss lands!" She asked between Blake and Rube quickly and desperately, as she spotted her card inside her handbag. 

Rube Cube took the pole of the banner and held it up as high as she could, pulling the hood of her famous red hoodie over her pixie cut of hair. She was grinning so much, her pristine teeth shining as she bore them. 

"Maybe some flavoured water? And some potato chips? I'm getting a little hungry myself," Blake suggested from across the length of the banner. She had been happily holding it up for Rube for hours, at the slightest chance that Weiss would turn up. They knew - aside from Ruby - that the flight landing would be announced before they would see Weiss come out from the terminal. But Yang and Blake held the banner for Rube and did everything else for her to make her happy. They both loved her and this was what she wanted. She wanted to make sure Weiss had the best landing party she could have. Rube Cube wanted to be there with a banner and her flowers too.

Her flowers were in her bag with the board of chocolate chipped and sugar cookies too. Ruby had spent all night making them, so much as to actually make her own chocolate from cocoa powder and to fashion her own cookie dough too. Ruby was an expert baker, even if she had sometimes found the shakes or misplaced her 'squishy' or stress ball.

While Rube Cube hated the stress relief toys in public, on the case that she needed the larger ones to actually get anything from them, and that people really stared and judged if she had the big ones in her hands - Ruby did still keep some around the house for times of intense strain. She found her math homework impossible sometimes, and her language and literature studies too. The stress balls were the things keeping her from melting down and panicking when she could not do it. 

Since Ruby had started the new year, Yang was back playing tutor, she was giving Ruby more lessons on how to plough through her intense homework, Yang might as well have been the teacher in the classroom. The blond elder sister had always and probably would always be the best person who knew how to get everything and anything through to Ruby. She seemed to be the only person in the world that got how Ruby did things in a 'Ruby-kind-of-way' whereas everyone else did things in other ways. 

Sometimes Ruby's way was faster, sometimes slower, sometimes less logical, and others more logical than previously thought possible. While society and the system branded Yang's little sister as 'autistic' and on the 'spectrum', Yang had always told her sister that she was a genius. Because Yang genuinely believed it. 

"Rubles?" Yang asked, taking her credit card from her bag along with a handful of Ruby's toys too. It was smart that she kept them, and even Ruby had told her she like her having them and not the red hooded girl herself. 

Rube Cube turned her head to Yang in a flash, a little confused. Her mind had been running away with itself again, thinking of when and how Weiss would exit that tunnel. Ruby could not miss it, she didn't want to. "Huh?" She asked Yang, suddenly losing herself a little. 

"Hey, it's okay Rubles. Do you still want a squishy? Want anything from the store too? I'll only be a second." Yang informed her, handing out her handful of the multi coloured loops to the girl. "Come on sis, what colour is ya thinking now? Which one's the right one to you?" The blonde asked her little sister, playing that little game they did when Ruby needed another loop for her hand to fold and play with. 

The little game was genius too. 

Each colour of the loops had a different meaning to the sisters, but Ruby would always change the meaning of certain colours at times. It if was morning, and Ruby was still tired, she'd select a bright colour, but that same colour could mean she was restless and so awake later in the day. The game was to make Yang guess based on what it meant earlier in the day. It was incredible and for Blake, it was beautiful to behold. 

Ruby stood there thinking for a second until she grabbed the yellow from Yang's hand.   
"Let me guess, excitement?" Yang asked, checking to see what the colour meant this time to Ruby, but as she said it, the little sister was shaking her head. 

"Restlessness?" Blake asked from across the banner. 

"Nah, wrong again gays. It means love, right now it means love because as soon as Weiss comes through that tunnel, I'm gonna kiss her hand and tell her I love her." Ruby announced, looking firm and resolute as she looked toward the tunnel exit with the pole in her hand. She was going to do this, and tell the girl who'd been her friend for months how much she meant to her. 

Yang was blushing for her little sister and swooned at the idea of Ruby dating. She'd never dated anyone before, not anyone. Yang had very much tried to get a grip her for sister's sexuality as soon as possible. Since Ruby had told Yang she liked girls like she did and not boys, the blonde dragon had single handedly ensured that no idiot male had the chance to get near Rube Cube to ask her out. 

As for girls, Ruby had not found the one she thought was right for her. Until Weiss. 

"Okay lover girl, want some water?" Yang asked, deciding she needed to hurry or she would miss Weiss coming through the tunnel for Ruby to go and cuddle, and now kiss and proclaim love to.

Ruby nodded, with a firm hum as she did not look away, and Yang turned to leave. But as soon as she did, Ruby cried out like a freaking out schoolgirl. "Ah!" Ruby screamed, and Yang took that hard. She whipped herself around to see something that made more sense than her anxiety for Ruby. 

It was Weiss walking down the tunnel. 

Quickly Yang ran to Ruby and took the pole of the banner. "Go get her tiger," the elder sister told the red-hooded girl, and Ruby ran for her Weiss. 

They collided quickly and steadfast, Weiss was conditioned to Ruby's insanely quick cuddles and hurried to sturdy herself with a foot planted behind her. Ruby ran and leapt onto Weiss, wrapping her arms around her shoulders, and her legs around the white-haired girl's waist. She held her so closely it seemed as if she would never let her go on vacation to Atlas again. 

"I've missed you so much! So so much! I nearly died Weiss! I nearly died! Ask Yangarang!" Ruby cried out. Weiss shot daggers at Yang for letting the little sister get this excited to see her. Weiss could still not deal with all of Ruby's eccentricities, like these ones. 

"Hey, I'm back now Rube Cube! And I got you so many gifts from Atlas! It's okay!" Weiss tried to calm the girl, struggling to hold her up with the bags around her arms. She wasn't that strong.

Ruby pulled her head from the crook of Weiss's neck and looked at her quizzically. "I got you a gift too Weisscream!" 

Weiss braced herself. "Oh? What did you get me, dear?"

"This," Ruby told her and leant in closer, and she kissed Weiss on the lips with every ounce of bravery she could muster. She said the hand, but Weiss's lips were too inviting and beautiful, she was wearing that glitter lipstick that Ruby adored. It all happened too quickly Weiss nearly fell. 

"I love you Weissu!"


End file.
